Heat

[Gunner54]

Garage has just been painted, now just need to find a solution for winter heat.
38' × 32' fully insulated garage. The ceiling is 14', with 2 X 72" ceiling fans yet to be installed.
The goal is to maintain approximately 45-50F (7–10°C) through the winter.

 

[PoorUB]

Utilities available? Natural gas, Propane, and I assume electricity?

Any desire for air conditioning?

General location? California coast line is far from Minot ND for heating requirements.

Shop usage?

 

[Gunner54]

Utilities available? Natural gas, Propane, and I assume electricity?

Any desire for air conditioning?

General location? California coast line is far from Minot ND for heating requirements.

Shop usage?

Canadian winter, propane, no AC needed, 95% storage with minor vehicle maintenance from a soon-to-be-installed BendPak HD-9XW / 220V lift.

 

[PoorUB]

What is your preference?

60K BTU Hot Dawg, or Mr Heater would be the least money to install, or perhaps a infrared, but you need to be aware some infrared heaters require a few feet of clearance under them.

 

[Gunner54]

What is your preference?

60K BTU Hot Dawg, or Mr Heater would be the least money to install, or perhaps a infrared, but you need to be aware some infrared heaters require a few feet of clearance under them.

I have a Reznor unit in the attached garage and it's worked great. Just curious about other brands or alternatives. Not a fan of infra red.

 

[PoorUB]

I have a Reznor unit in the attached garage and it's worked great. Just curious about other brands or alternatives. Not a fan of infra red.

Reznor is fine too. Buy what is available to you.

 

[Mikes61]

What about a 36K minisplit? You’ll get heat, air conditioning and dehumidifying all in one unit.

 

[Jackfre]

Rinnai EX-38. QUIET, cool to the touch, vent comes in the box, reliable and very durable. Will auto re-start after a power outage. Not cheap, but excellent.

 

[pcmeiners]

Spreadsheet for utility costs. You can download and replace with your utility costs, include all tax and nonsense surcharges...

google ...... Version: HEAT-CALC-Vsn-D_1-09.xls

In the states propane is expensive on average. Check out mini splits cost per million btu. My garge 30x36' average insulation, 2 garage doors 2 windows is heate/cooled with a Fujitsu low temp 12k unit, from -7° to 102° F no problem. Single zone units are the most efficient by far for both AC/heat.

 

[nadogail]

Not knowing your location, I can tell you what I did.
Here in Coronado, just across the bay from San Diego, I bought a 5 KW electric unit heater from Amazon and mounted it to the ceiling in my garage, I ran a 30 Amp, 240 volt circuit to it. The heater is controlled by a mechanical twist timer and a 40 Amp relay, the 24 Volt coil voltage comes from a repurposed power supply from a sprinkler timer.
I used the twist timer to keep the heater from accidentally being left on when the shop is unoccupied.
I am aware that many members of the Garage Journal Community don’t enjoy the same weather as we do in Coronado.
The Solar System on the roof makes the electric power very inexpensive.